Denver’s quest for a third straight Super Bowl title was over almost as soon as it began.

John Elway had retired, paving the way for Brian Griese. Terrell Davis suffered a knee injury while making a tackle on an interception return. Shannon Sharpe soon joined Davis on the bench with an injury. The Broncos started 0-4.

“We weren’t even close, for a number of reasons,” coach Mike Shanahan said.

The New England Patriots visit the Broncos today for a playoff game that could move them two wins away from the third straight championship.

It’s an unprecedented feat and, much like hitting .400 in baseball or breaking 60 on the PGA Tour, it has long stood as one of the most elusive of challenges in sports. And while every sports fan knows what an amazing feat it would be, nobody quite relates like the Denver players who were around in 1999, the last time anyone in the league had a chance.

“It’s impossible,” defensive lineman Trevor Pryce said. “I have one statement: I went to the Pro Bowl the year the Ravens won it. Ray Lewis was at the table, talking crazy about repeats and three-peats. I said, ‘OK, remember this. You’ve got an ‘X’ on your back. We had it twice. It’s hard to win it. You will not win it again.’ And they didn’t.”

In one sense, the Patriots have been lucky in that they’ve been able to keep their core together and still have the means to fill in missing pieces. Part of that is because some of their best veterans – like Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi – have been willing to play for less in New England than they could have gotten elsewhere.

But if it’s not one thing, it’s another.

This season, injuries almost did in the Patriots. Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison. Corey Dillon, Matt Light, Kevin Faulk. All are key cogs who missed significant time. When the Pats came to Denver for a regular-season game on Oct. 16, they barely resembled playoff material, let alone a wannabe dynasty.

A weakened defense and a struggling offensive line that caused Tom Brady to take a beating were a big reason they fell behind 28-3. Their championship mentality is a big reason they rallied and nearly tied it, before falling 28-20.

“There are a lot of things that are different” between now and then, Brady said. “I don’t want to sit up here and rattle off all the things that I think we can accomplish. We have to just play better football.” Since then, they certainly have.

Over the final six games of the regular season, they allowed only 2.9 yards per run. Brady has thrown for a career-high 4,110 yards. They won six of seven before falling in the regular-season finale, a game in which coach Bill Belichick rested many of his starters.

Still, all those stats only speak to the bigger point – that the Patriots are champions, they know how to win, and they know how to do it with everyone else targeting them.

“It’s why they are what they are,” Shanahan said. “They’ve got a chance to do something pretty special.” So, of course, does Denver.

Only six players remain from the last Super Bowl team and much has been made of the fact that the Broncos haven’t won a playoff game in seven years and haven’t hosted one in that span, either.

Gone is Mile High Stadium, the site of Denver’s last home playoff win, 23-10 over the Jets in the 1998 AFC Championship game.

In its place stands Invesco Field, the newer, cushier and, many think, not-quite-as-loud replacement.

The tandem of Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell are now in the position held by Terrell Davis, who at the time of Denver’s championships was on a pace to become one of the best backs in the history of the game. Sharpe, one of the game’s best, has been replaced by the not-well-known tandem of Jeb Putzier and Stephen Alexander.

And Elway? After Shanahan’s experiment with Griese failed, Jake Plummer became the heir apparent. Plummer versus Brady might seem like a mismatch, but so far this season, Plummer has answered every challenge.

He appreciates what the Patriots are trying to do.

“They’re going after something that has never been done,” Plummer said. “Everyone wants to be the greatest, and if they go out and win another one, it will be hard to say that they’re not the greatest dynasty ever, as far as the NFL. We want to put a halt to that and they want to continue on, so it is going to be a big challenge for us.” One of the most impressive stats about the current New England dynasty: The Patriots are 10-0 in playoff games since 2001, the year of their first Super Bowl win.

Still, they know that before them, seven teams, including those Broncos of the late-90s, won two straight Super Bowls. Not one of those returned to the big game to go for a third.

“Teams come at you harder when you get an ‘X’ on your back.

It’s the nature of the game,” Shanahan said. “Not too many teams have been able to do what New England has done. Now, they’ve got a chance to do something nobody’s done. It’s why they’re very special.”

More in Sports

“I don’t know if there’s a better backup point guard in the league right now than Monte,” former Chicago Bulls coach and Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said of his former protege, the Nuggets' Monte Morris. “It’s such a luxury to have a guy that knows the offense, that’s going to be smart with the ball, and that’s translated from...

Another Denver sports radio host is putting a tattoo on the line on the Broncos. Former Broncos offensive lineman Orlando Franklin, now a host on 104.3 The Fan, said Tuesday he is betting that Denver is not going to select a quarterback with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. "There's no chance that they do that,"...

The loss of both his parents in middle school. The windy, bumpy and accelerated path to manhood that followed, when the 18-year-old was tested by homelessness and an overall instability in his family life.